Updated October 23, 2026. Quick answer: The 2025 Schedule C chart has no row that names a personal trainer. Two rows come closest by wording: 812990, “All other personal services”, and 713900, which mentions fitness centers. The number goes on line B, and the chart’s rule points at the activity behind most of your receipts.
The rows closest to personal training
Fitness appears on the chart in exactly one place, and personal services appear in a catch-all row. These are the two worth reading first:
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 812990 | All other personal services |
| 713900 | Other amusement & recreation services (including golf courses, skiing facilities, marinas, fitness centers, bowling centers, skating rinks, miniature golf courses) |
The first is a general bucket for personal services not listed elsewhere. The second is a recreation row whose parenthetical examples include fitness centers; its other examples are places and facilities, such as golf courses and bowling centers, so it reads as being about the venue.
What the chart does not say
No row names a trainer, a coach, an instructor or training of any kind. The only fitness wording is the phrase fitness centers inside the recreation row. A trainer who works one on one in clients’ homes, one who rents space at a gym and one who owns a studio are all described by the same blank, and the chart leaves it to the person filing to read the wording and decide.
How the form asks for it
Line A asks for a description of the work: “Describe the business or professional activity that provided your principal source of income reported on line 1.” Line B asks for the code: “Enter on line B the six-digit code from the Principal Business or Professional Activity Codes chart” The code goes in the box on line B, beside the description.
As an example of the kind of description, not IRS wording, line A might say one-on-one personal training and workout programs for adults. It can be as precise as the business is.
Other neighbors to weigh
The chart has a few more rows whose wording touches body, wellness or events. Their words, not any statement by the IRS, are the reason they are listed.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 812990 | All other personal services |
| 713900 | Other amusement & recreation services (including golf courses, skiing facilities, marinas, fitness centers, bowling centers, skating rinks, miniature golf courses) |
| 812190 | Other personal care services (including diet & weight reducing centers) |
| 611000 | Educational services (including schools, colleges, & universities) |
| 711300 | Promoters of performing arts, sports, & similar events |
The personal care row mentions diet and weight reducing centers, which is about a different service from exercise but sits in the same personal-services group. The educational row is the chart’s only teaching wording. The promoters row names sports and similar events, which reads as organizing them.
The chart’s rule has two steps: “Select the category that best describes your primary business activity”, and then “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”.
Training plus other income
Trainers often add online programs, supplements or event fees to hourly sessions. The chart does not assign a code to each; the rule asks for the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts. If a second, separate business exists, the instructions say: “If you owned more than one business, complete a separate Schedule C for each business.” A reseller of products has a pointer too: “For nonstore retailers, select the PBA code by the primary product that your establishment sells.”
Where to go from here
The code belongs on line B, beside the line A description. The form as a whole is explained at Schedule C (Form 1040). Income taken by card or an app is discussed at the 1099-K box 1a page, and a person who travels to clients may look at the page on lines 8 and 9.
Edition and chart year
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-23 (byte-identical to the archived copies). They are the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The schedule says “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041”. Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the chart that comes with that year’s instructions, because a different year’s chart can list different codes or reword them.
Common mistakes
- Reading fitness centers in “Other amusement & recreation services (including golf courses, skiing facilities, marinas, fitness centers, bowling centers, skating rinks, miniature golf courses)” as a row about trainers: the wording lists places such as golf courses and bowling centers.
- Using one code per client or per program: the chart asks you to “Select the category that best describes your primary business activity”, then pick the activity behind most receipts.
- Leaving line A blank because the chart has no trainer row: the form still asks you to “Describe the business or professional activity that provided your principal source of income reported on line 1.”
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), 1099-K box 1a, gross payment card and third party network transactions, Schedule C lines 8 and 9, advertising and car and truck expenses, and Schedule C line 1, gross receipts or sales.
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Answer againSources
- Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf
- Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 23, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.